• A good bath towel is preferable to a receiving blanket. Unless the person giving the receiving blanket has made them, which isn’t hard with a sewing machine and $2.00/yard material, a bath towel is infinitely cheaper, more durable, warmer, and has long lasting practicality.  I’ll make my case for this in a separate post, but here is the quick price comparison from Wal-Mart package of 4 20″x30″ thin yet cutesy receiving blankets, $12.00.  Terry cloth bath towels in the 24″x48″ size range can regularly be had for $2.00 to $3.00 each on sale.
• Stay at home parents should consider cloth diapers.  I’ll make my case for using them in another post too, but the financial end of it is easy.  Wal-mart’s price for a dozen name brand pre-fold cloth diapers is $11.49 and a package of six rubber pants is $3.00.  The generic newborn diapers at walmart are $12.00 for 56 and considerably more for the name brand ones.  The average baby is going to go through eight to twelve disposables a day depending on the baby, but for coparative purposes we’ll lowgball it at eight.  That equals $12.00 give or take a week in diapers.  Call it $50.00 a month for the first three months and theprice goes up from there sharply.  I recommend four packages of cloth diapers, two packages of diaper pins, and two packages of rubber pants, call it $60.00 after taxes.
• Don’t skimp on buying baby wipes, go directly for the large refill box of generics.  Wal-mart has their generic brand in packages of six (6) – eighty count packages for less than $8.00.  At nearly $4.00 each for an 80 count package in a semi hard plastic box, the price difference here is easy to figure out.  Though some people are going to gasp at this notion, most baby wipes can be washed, dried and reused at least once.  I discovered this by accident, but once I did I realized they are still much stronger than paper towels and good enough for some tough jobs like cleaning the surface of my flattop stove, inside the microwave, coffee spills, and any other job where liquid is involved.  My guess is they would be great for car detailing work too.
• Bottles are a pain to clean and sterilize unless you can keep on top of it.  Buy lots of small ones, a good bottle brush with a nipple cleaner, a 1 gallon batter bowl, and an electric kettle.  Since I have to hand wash my dishes to get them clean, I prefer to do a large lot of bottles at once, and do them separately from all the other dishes, or at least first.  If you have hard water this is about the only way to ensure they actually get clean and don’t end up with that scumy film the dishwasher leaves on plastics.  Once you get them clean sterilize them in boiling water. bottles, nipples, rings, and even their pacifiers.  I find the best and safest way to get boiling water fast is a cordless electric kettle.  It takes three or four minutes to get six or seven cups boiling which about fills the one gaqllon batter bowl I use to sterilize bottles in.  With a spout and handle you can easily pour the water water out later rather than fishing through a container of really hot water if you need something immediately.
• Don’t buy expensive baby detergent until you have used your normal stuff.  Telling parents they need special baby detergents for all of babies things is nothing more than an act of commercial terrorism playout out against parental paranoia.  Simply put advertisers know the mommy brigade will buy anything if you can convince them not doing so is not only the worst possible thing they canh do for their child, but makes you a bad parent if you don’t buy their product.  Some babies will have real skin issues and specialty soaps should be considered for them.  These conditions are very rare.  If clothes washed in your normal detergent irritate your babies skin simply add between a quarter and a half cup of borax powder to the wash cycle.  This usually solves the problem, which was caused by the detergent not fully rinsing away.
• Sleep and coffee are your friends.  Catch a nap whenever you can.  Television isn’t that important and frankly in this day and age can be watched after the fact very easily.  If the baby is asleep at eight o’clock make the most of it rather than staying up to catch Bones, House, or your latest favorite reality show.  You can download those shows later if you didn’t DVR them.  Drink as much coffee as it takes to be wide awake and properly alert.  Light roasted coffee, such as those designated breakfast blends, have the most caffiene for they cup.  A French Press coffee pot is an excellent gift for any parent to be.
• Don’t buy an expensive baby sling.  I can only do so many things at once and many of them require both of my hands.  If your baby is the type that demands to be held regularly this can hamper the other things you want or need to do. I blog for a living and sometimes making a deadline for a paid post has to be done no matter what Sarah wants from me.  I am not a person who can type one handed, so at first I improvised a baby sling out of a king size bed sheet which worked well enough to hold her in place next to me while I did other things.  This was hell on my neck, so I had to redesign it.  I will make a full post on this later, but you can easily make one the right size out of three to four yards of cheap material.  I paid $1.00/yard for mine as opposed to $25.00 for a fancy sling.

As I said before there are some things that just can’t be put off when you have a baby in your care and in a few minutes I expect Sarah is going to wake up and I will have to take care of them.  I have more tips and articles forthcoming.  Stay tuned.

Originally posted 2008-12-11 04:33:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I agree that everyone needs to learn the high etiquette of social speak. I disagree with the notion that it is the only language that matters. I also disagree with the notion of censuring kids who use any other version of English when high etiquette social speak isn’t necessary. Just because an adult can’t make heads or tails of “text speak” or forgotten they were once kids who had their own vulgar vernacular that included controversial words like neat, damn, awesome, suck, fly, groovy, rad, and cool. While “Biatch” and “Ho” are words I could do without hearing, this generation has however given up most of the derogatory terms used for race that I don’t think I need to list.

Vulgarity when you get right down to it really means any speech of the common folk, of which I am a proud member. The term was originally meant to be derogatory towards those of the lower social class. Vulgar is traditionally a word used only by those with too high of an opinion of themselves, in reference to the rest of us. Vulgar is a word high and mighty snobs developed, unlike the phrase “fuck you” which is pretty what I have to say to anyone who equates economic status with the kind of person you are.

Much like Latin evolved into the romance languages, English is evolving into many distinct forms from the root. While many of the branches die out as time passes, many of the new words get shared across the branches and live on in consecutive generations each taking on a new meaning for the branch. Yesterdays curse words become tomorrows colloquial.

While it will be many generations before we are ready to accept “fuck” as one of the acceptable words for our kids to say, it has come a long way already. Is it okay for your kids to say it? That is a question you will have to decide for yourself. I, for one, would be far more horrified if he spoke like his Klan bred church going cousins, than I ever would be of him reciting George Carlin’s complete “Seven Dirty Words” skit during show and tell. (Honestly if he did that I would be very stern and unhappy at the school then take him out for ice cream)

Originally posted 2008-04-22 20:09:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

While there was a lot of convenience to the feeding tube, simply pour the formula into the bag, hang it, and let the machine push it, I am glad we aren’t having the same sort of GI issues with Sarah.  I think she might have a slight case of reflux, but nowhere nearly as bad as he did.  Hopefully, when we see her doctor on Friday, we can address that issue. While I can most certainly say I don’t want her to have a feeding tube, there are days where I don’t think I would mind having one.  The benefits of taking that half a pot of cold coffee all at once are obvious to me.  While I wouldn’t want to give up eating regularly, pouring one of those nasty tasting protein shakes directly into my belly when I need to eat and Sarah is fussy certainly seems like a fine alternative too.

I digress though.  I got to spend an extra hour simply holding my girl, and it was a moment I’m glad for.  While some will criticize me for some things I have chronicled here that she may later read, I am fine with that, because I know she will just as likely read this post one day and see I did enjoy my time with her once she was born.  Well she is asleep now so I am going to take her back to her room now that the heater has made it toasty warm, then i am going to crawl back into bed and just maybe get another ninety minutes of sleep before Liam decides he needs breakfast.

Originally posted 2008-11-20 03:19:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Recently, I was accused of being a horrible misserable person because I admitted I am not excited about the baby.  I can live with that.  It is true, despite the fact she is due in twenty three days, I am not excited.  If she asked me a dozen years from now what I felt about her being born, I’ll be honest.  If you expect your kids to tell the truth you need to do the same with them.

What will I tell her?  I’ll tell her I wasn’t excited about having another baby.  I will tell her if she asks whether or not I thought Katy should have had an abortion immediately when she found out she was pregnant.  I will tell her not to judge me by what I thought or felt about her before she was born, but by what kind of father I have been to her.

Will my answers hurt, not if I have done my job right as her father.  I may not be the guy who coaches her soccer team.  I may not be the guy who says look what you can make of your life.  I may not be the shining example of a lot of things, but I will always be the father that did his best to take care of her and the person who never lied to her.

Originally posted 2008-10-16 14:55:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I am Brad, your blogmaster and all around administrator. Aside from being a stay at home dad for at least another seven years I am a blogger and author.

Katy is my wife and if you hadn’t guessed is preggers, knocked up, in a family way, has a bun in the oven, renting out her guest womb, lost the immunity challenge, showing signs of a man juice infection, spinning off a wholly owned subsidiary, protesting the Chinese government, bought a three month pass to the morning sickness express, had the fucking pill quit working, and in all other very specific terms pregnant.

I am just waiting to hear how she will introduce me now. All things aside I love her, our son Liam, and what ever we end up calling this one besides “The New Pet“. I am a father, I know how we got into this situation and I am 50% responsible, so I will do my job.

Originally posted 2008-04-21 21:58:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

5) You are Dad. That means a lot, don’t shirk your responsibilities. You will have to turn off your xbox or step away from the computer to watch Sesame Street and smile when you would rather strangling that fucking Elmo. Putting on the right face is part of the job.

4) You are Dad. Don’t try and be Mom. It will never work. It doesn’t matter if your child has no mother or even another Dad, if you try and be Mom you will fail horribly. Be Dad and be a good Dad, it is all anyone could ever ask or expect.

3) You are a stay at home dad, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to work. Don’t put up with any crap from people who think you don’t work. If you are doing your job right, you will work your ass off every day. If you happen to have a secondary job to being the stay at home parent, remember that it is always secondary to the job of being the stay at home Dad.

2) Show your respect for the person going off to the job that lets you be a stay at home Dad. Don’t, however let them get away with shoving off all their responsibilities of being a parent and living in the house off on you though. You are a stay at home Dad, not their personal servant. Even if you are into that sort of role playing, remember it is when the kids have gone to bed and you are allowed a temporary reprieve.

1) Realize until your kids are in school all day long five days a week your free time is limited, so make the best use of it you can. i recommend napping every time they do.

Originally posted 2008-07-21 01:00:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I am Brad, your blogmaster and all around administrator. Aside from being a stay at home dad for at least another seven years I am a blogger and author.

Katy is my wife and if you hadn’t guessed is preggers, knocked up, in a family way, has a bun in the oven, renting out her guest womb, lost the immunity challenge, showing signs of a man juice infection, spinning off a wholly owned subsidiary, protesting the Chinese government, bought a three month pass to the morning sickness express, had the fucking pill quit working, and in all other very specific terms pregnant.

I am just waiting to hear how she will introduce me now. All things aside I love her, our son Liam, and what ever we end up calling this one besides “The New Pet“. I am a father, I know how we got into this situation and I am 50% responsible, so I will do my job.

Originally posted 2008-04-21 21:58:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• A good bath towel is preferable to a receiving blanket. Unless the person giving the receiving blanket has made them, which isn’t hard with a sewing machine and $2.00/yard material, a bath towel is infinitely cheaper, more durable, warmer, and has long lasting practicality.  I’ll make my case for this in a separate post, but here is the quick price comparison from Wal-Mart package of 4 20″x30″ thin yet cutesy receiving blankets, $12.00.  Terry cloth bath towels in the 24″x48″ size range can regularly be had for $2.00 to $3.00 each on sale.
• Stay at home parents should consider cloth diapers.  I’ll make my case for using them in another post too, but the financial end of it is easy.  Wal-mart’s price for a dozen name brand pre-fold cloth diapers is $11.49 and a package of six rubber pants is $3.00.  The generic newborn diapers at walmart are $12.00 for 56 and considerably more for the name brand ones.  The average baby is going to go through eight to twelve disposables a day depending on the baby, but for coparative purposes we’ll lowgball it at eight.  That equals $12.00 give or take a week in diapers.  Call it $50.00 a month for the first three months and theprice goes up from there sharply.  I recommend four packages of cloth diapers, two packages of diaper pins, and two packages of rubber pants, call it $60.00 after taxes.
• Don’t skimp on buying baby wipes, go directly for the large refill box of generics.  Wal-mart has their generic brand in packages of six (6) – eighty count packages for less than $8.00.  At nearly $4.00 each for an 80 count package in a semi hard plastic box, the price difference here is easy to figure out.  Though some people are going to gasp at this notion, most baby wipes can be washed, dried and reused at least once.  I discovered this by accident, but once I did I realized they are still much stronger than paper towels and good enough for some tough jobs like cleaning the surface of my flattop stove, inside the microwave, coffee spills, and any other job where liquid is involved.  My guess is they would be great for car detailing work too.
• Bottles are a pain to clean and sterilize unless you can keep on top of it.  Buy lots of small ones, a good bottle brush with a nipple cleaner, a 1 gallon batter bowl, and an electric kettle.  Since I have to hand wash my dishes to get them clean, I prefer to do a large lot of bottles at once, and do them separately from all the other dishes, or at least first.  If you have hard water this is about the only way to ensure they actually get clean and don’t end up with that scumy film the dishwasher leaves on plastics.  Once you get them clean sterilize them in boiling water. bottles, nipples, rings, and even their pacifiers.  I find the best and safest way to get boiling water fast is a cordless electric kettle.  It takes three or four minutes to get six or seven cups boiling which about fills the one gaqllon batter bowl I use to sterilize bottles in.  With a spout and handle you can easily pour the water water out later rather than fishing through a container of really hot water if you need something immediately.
• Don’t buy expensive baby detergent until you have used your normal stuff.  Telling parents they need special baby detergents for all of babies things is nothing more than an act of commercial terrorism playout out against parental paranoia.  Simply put advertisers know the mommy brigade will buy anything if you can convince them not doing so is not only the worst possible thing they canh do for their child, but makes you a bad parent if you don’t buy their product.  Some babies will have real skin issues and specialty soaps should be considered for them.  These conditions are very rare.  If clothes washed in your normal detergent irritate your babies skin simply add between a quarter and a half cup of borax powder to the wash cycle.  This usually solves the problem, which was caused by the detergent not fully rinsing away.
• Sleep and coffee are your friends.  Catch a nap whenever you can.  Television isn’t that important and frankly in this day and age can be watched after the fact very easily.  If the baby is asleep at eight o’clock make the most of it rather than staying up to catch Bones, House, or your latest favorite reality show.  You can download those shows later if you didn’t DVR them.  Drink as much coffee as it takes to be wide awake and properly alert.  Light roasted coffee, such as those designated breakfast blends, have the most caffiene for they cup.  A French Press coffee pot is an excellent gift for any parent to be.
• Don’t buy an expensive baby sling.  I can only do so many things at once and many of them require both of my hands.  If your baby is the type that demands to be held regularly this can hamper the other things you want or need to do. I blog for a living and sometimes making a deadline for a paid post has to be done no matter what Sarah wants from me.  I am not a person who can type one handed, so at first I improvised a baby sling out of a king size bed sheet which worked well enough to hold her in place next to me while I did other things.  This was hell on my neck, so I had to redesign it.  I will make a full post on this later, but you can easily make one the right size out of three to four yards of cheap material.  I paid $1.00/yard for mine as opposed to $25.00 for a fancy sling.

As I said before there are some things that just can’t be put off when you have a baby in your care and in a few minutes I expect Sarah is going to wake up and I will have to take care of them.  I have more tips and articles forthcoming.  Stay tuned.

Originally posted 2008-12-11 04:33:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

While there was a lot of convenience to the feeding tube, simply pour the formula into the bag, hang it, and let the machine push it, I am glad we aren’t having the same sort of GI issues with Sarah.  I think she might have a slight case of reflux, but nowhere nearly as bad as he did.  Hopefully, when we see her doctor on Friday, we can address that issue. While I can most certainly say I don’t want her to have a feeding tube, there are days where I don’t think I would mind having one.  The benefits of taking that half a pot of cold coffee all at once are obvious to me.  While I wouldn’t want to give up eating regularly, pouring one of those nasty tasting protein shakes directly into my belly when I need to eat and Sarah is fussy certainly seems like a fine alternative too.

I digress though.  I got to spend an extra hour simply holding my girl, and it was a moment I’m glad for.  While some will criticize me for some things I have chronicled here that she may later read, I am fine with that, because I know she will just as likely read this post one day and see I did enjoy my time with her once she was born.  Well she is asleep now so I am going to take her back to her room now that the heater has made it toasty warm, then i am going to crawl back into bed and just maybe get another ninety minutes of sleep before Liam decides he needs breakfast.

Originally posted 2008-11-20 03:19:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter