January 2013

Opening Day for Major League Baseball is just around the corner and I can not wait. Last year, I was excited for the baseball season, but this year, I am really looking forward to the season.  As a Houston Astros fan, I am looking forward to being able to see how the ‘Stros handle the move to the AL West.

Should be a great year for Major League Baseball.  There is a new excitement, especially with teams that have not been as successful in the past. The Baltimore Orioles has a crop of young players that could really change their future for the next several years.  The New York Yankees have finally taken the appropriate steps to rebuild, so I think that this is going to be a down year for them.

Baseball, a game that even as an adult, I can get excited about watching.

Read more

Kids need structure as much as the parents do and for the exact same reasons.

Kids need the routine, the routine of going to bed, naps, eating, etc. It builds structure in their lives and structure that will guide them throughout their lives.
But parents also need the structure as well, to ensure that their children are well rested, going to bed on time, etc.

I always have a problem when I go out and see a family with little kids eating at 9pm and the kids can barely hold their heads up from being tired. They need structure.

We have a set routine that we have found to work for us:

Wake up – 6am – 7am
1st changing and Milk – after they wake up
Breakfast – 8:45 – 9am
Juice/Water – 11:30am
Lunch – 12:30
Nap – 1 – 3pm
Milk/Juice – 5pmDinner – 7pm
Bed – 8pm

Structure. The kids know the pattern. They know that when they are finished eating, that they play for a few minutes, we change them and they goto bed. They sit in their cribs and play or chat or even flip through books, but they know that the lights are off and it is also time to goto sleep.

For the exact same reason that it is good for kids, it helps parents also to plan their nights as well. My wife and I know that we have 8 – 10pm each night as our time. Our time to talk, connect, watch tv, and eat dinner. That is our time. And we know that we can almost count on each night, having that time alone.

It is important to have structure for both the parents and kids, because in the end, it will make things run a lot smoother.

 

Read more

Do you ever stop and wonder how your life could have turned out differently if things would have happened another way?

Do you ever wonder what life would have been like, if the girl in 6th grade had not broken your heart?

Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if you had gone to a different college or gone to a different bar on New Years?

Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if your parents had not gotten divorced?

Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if your loved one had not died?

You can what if your life away and you can wonder how things would have been different. But would you really want them to be different?

I can not imagine my life any other way, ok, if I won the lottery, then that would be cool, but I would still have my wife and boys.

Do you ever wonder?

Read more

One of my resolutions for the year, is to do a 52 Week Challenge and trying 1 new recipe a week.  I am trying to make a new recipe each week and not only make 1 new recipe each week, but also cook enough for a few additional meals for left overs.

Follow my journey with these recipes here.

 

 

Read more

There is nothing harder than when your child is sick. And it is even worse when there is really nothing that you can do for them.  For the last several days, both of the boys have been sick, low grade fevers, coughing, etc. We took one to the doctor, because he was the one demonstrating the signs of a cold.  And the doctor basically said that as long as he was drinking fluids and his fever was below 103, we were good and that it would just run its course.

But it doesn’t change the fact that it is hard to watch your child being sick. All I can do is hold him, keep giving him fluids and hope that this cold goes away sooner, rather than later.

In doing some internet searches, I did find a few possible home rem-ides that we did try to help as well:

  • Vicks Vapor Rub – both on their chests and feet, especially at night.
  • Humidifier and we have a Vicks Vapor strip in the humidifier to keep mist going.
  • A little honey in their juice – this is supposed to help coat their throats for the coughing & it is recommended that you brush your child’s teeth after doing this.
  • Take a tablespoon of Vicks Vapor Rub and a tablespoon of water and place it into the top of the Scentsy candle holder.

Have any of these worked? Who knows? But if it helps just a little bit to take away my kids sickness, then I am willing to give it a try. I know how I feel when I have a cold, but I can verbalize how I feel and what hurts and that I don’t want to eat or drink anything, but the boys can not. There is nothing worse than watching your child being sick.

Read more

I am often asked what the hardest part about raising twins and I don’t know the answer? I don’t, because I don’t know any different. The boys are so different, which I love. One loves to be off by himself and figure out blocks and stacking and putting shaped blocks into the container, over and over again. The other, wants to be right in the middle of everything and doesn’t want to miss a thing.

Last week, one of the boys was up coughing at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  So he and I went down and slept on the sofa. Was that hard? Absolutely. It isn’t comfortable sitting up and sleeping, but it helped him sleep. It helped him be comfortable and not coughing. And I got to hold my son. I got to watch him sleep. I got to hear his first words of the day, as he whispered Dad when he realized that I was holding his hand.

Hardest part of raising twins? No clue? I am loving every minute of it.

Read more

This past weekend, the boys started refusing to eat and I stood in front of them and just figured that I would give them forks to see what they would do.

Well, to my surprise, that dinners feeding turned into a lot of fun, because they sat there and figured out how to feed themselves using a fork. The excitement that they had when they were feeding themselves was classic.

Another chapter in their learning has started.

Read more

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend from my mother and that is that you are never too old learn, especially when you are a new parent.

I should start this off by stating that my mother has been a elementary school teacher for 44 years, so she knows a little more about children than I do.  So, while I was feeding the boys the other night, one kept dropping food on the floor and I kept repeating the word No to him. And then he did something else and I said No again. After a few minutes, my mother spoke up and said to me, that it would be better than telling them No all the time, to say “we do not drop food on the floor” or “we do not hit our brother”. And it got me thinking, it makes sense. At some point, the boys will grow numb to the word No if they hear it all the time.

I am really trying to make it a point to now, explain what they are doing or why we do not do something, instead of just saying No.  It is a hard habit to break, but thus far, they seemed to have responded thus far.

Read more

Well, it is that time of the year again, to make our New Years Resolutions.   Have you thought about what your goals will be this year?

Will it be the normal, lose weight? Be in a better financial position?

Sure, we will all focus on those things. But what about, helping others? What about doing good and being a better person?

So this year, as you look at your New Years Resolutions, think about things that you can do and more importantly, think about goals that are attainable.  Goals that are attainable are more than likely attainable, then goals that are not.

Today is a new day. The beginning of a new year. Make this year count. Make this year, the best year of your life.

Happy New Year.

Read more