For most people the terms mother-in-law sends a shiver up their spin. The other half of the family… sometimes the ones you really don’t see eye to eye with… sometimes the ones who say I told you so… For me this isn’t the truth, my mother-in-law is outstanding (ok mom don’t feel bad your mothers day post is right around the corner).
Two weeks ago my MIL was in town. It was the best few days my wife and I have had in a while. Why, one might ask it – simple out of the 7 days my MIL was in town my wife and I were able to sneak out 6 nights in a row. It was married with child bliss.
Otherwise its really great for Marc to hang with Granna. Since she’s based in Texas its really nice to have her around for a full week. Sure living in NYC is a little cramped but its a small price to pay for the happiness my wife gets from having her mom in town. Granna gets to take a peak into Marc’s life goes to all the classes gets to do fun events (like seeing Rock of Ages) and having fancy dinners out with Suzanne.
I’m glad our relationship works…. I hear so many horror stories of the dreaded in-laws but in my mind – I couldn’t have asked for better. Event visiting with them is a piece of cake (well more like a pound and half of Texas BBQ).
The biggest baby shower [Recap Link] is a twice yearly event put on by Big City Moms [Link]. I’m going to say its the must attend event of the year during your pregnancy or directly following. The vendor list is so massive I’ll just cover it with a quick who’s who…
Skip*Hop, Bugaboo, Mam, Delta, Born Free, Glamour Mom, Maclaren, Ouef, Stride Rite/Robeez, Momma Couture, Nomie Baby, Giggle, Boon, Britax, Destination Maternity, The Bump, Zoli, Teutonia, Orbit, Bloom, and iCandy just to name a few.
There was well over 350 ladies at this event and I’m going to say a little over a dozen guys. Even with this amount of people the space could easily have held another 50 plus.
The VIP tickets gained an extra hour to walk around and a secondary goodie bag. The swag in these bags are off the hook! Easy worth the price the ticket alone, but then you add in the raffle prizes that could win you strollers worth $800 plus dollars, highchairs, car seats, and so much more.
During the event there were 3 seminars going on, which not passed along great knowledge but had their own mini raffles and you guessed it more strollers were given away.
I think its awesome that not more then a year or two ago you wouldn’t catch a guy at this event and now its becoming pretty acceptable and soon it’ll be popular. No matter who you are, reporter/media, trend forecaster, trend setter, mom to be, dad to be, or just a friend – this is a must attend event. Starting looking forward to the next one in the fall!
For my vote the coolest daddy product I saw was the Taga Tricycle Stroller/bike, within a minute you can make a stroller into a trike that would be awesome to cruise around central park. I would follow that up by saying you should check out Fujifilm/SeeHere.com which could out put a picture onto a throw blanket.
Its not everyone who gets to put a smile on their grandparents face by simply walking in the door. I am no longer the cause of the smiles which is ok (kind of), but their smiles now come from their great-grandchild Marc. I always love spending time with both sides of my grandparents, but there is this special bond I share with my grandfather maybe because we look a like see the mini me post, if you need photographic proof.
There were moments of this trip that I was just beaming with pride the fact that Marc is now speaking a couple of words and he follows along with the hand songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider.
I have a few memories of my great-grandparents and as I get older they seem to get a little hazy but none the less I knew my bubby and zadie. At some point I need to start digging around in the basements for photos of me with my great-grandparents to show Marc one day. When he needs to do a report on his family history but hopefully he’ll be able to write great stories about spending time with his own great-grandparents.
I’ve been watching TV since I was a baby, but since I’ve been old enough to remember I’ve been watching family dramas or sitcoms. Since I’ve had my own family, I’ve been thinking about the turning point of the family sitcom from the core values that were shown in The Cosby Show to the ones now shown on Parenthood or Modern Family. I watched Little House on the Prairie (not nearly as much as my wife), but I got the point… I have a better memory of Family Ties or Full House and of course the Simpsons (still on and creating new episodes – wow!).
Married with Children is clearly a memory point for me as well… I remember Al having his shoe salesman job, his wife he couldn’t stand and kids that used him and never really respected him. Most importantly his hand down his pants drinking a beer. I think of this show as the game changer in 1987 it changed the love-y dove-y family images into something I have to imagine is now more real (or was back then) it also put fear into me of what life could become if you become apathetic to your wife and family and only focus on maintain (and not striving for something better). That show gave birth to The Simpsons because without Married with Children’s success I doubt The Simpsons would have been well received.
Today we have a couple of family sitcoms Modern Family which truly lives up to some of today’s modern dynamics of blended families, remarriages, siblings separated by a generation (either with marriage or birth during a secondary marriage). Parenthood is the next show I’ve been watching which is twisting the drama, morals into the sitcom. Dealing with issues that many struggle with from Children with asperger’s syndrome to entire families having to move back in with parents/grandparents because of circumstances (economic or personal).
I watch both shows with a desire to see if they try to instill the moral compass that The Cosby Show tried to put there or Family Ties or Growing Pains or even Full House. Will Parenthood shift into more drama then humor like Brothers & Sisters or will it curve back to Modern Family? What are you watching in the Family sitcom/drama? Ps. Dont worry we’ll cover Mad Men once its getting into its new season!
I enjoy being a father – you could ask anyone in my life. I’m a proud (over the moon) dad.
There are tasks that I’m less then happy about the biggest of them is cleaning up vomit. The good thing is that’s super rare but on the short list behind that is poop.
As an adult you really don’t think about how much the toilet has made life so comfy. It’s amazing…
Cleaning up poop no matter the form is pretty crappy (yes, thats a pun – there will be plenty). It by far one of the biggest cost to raising a child, you can’t always stock up on diapers because you don’t really know growth rates.
We went from an N to a 1 to a 2 in the matter of a month stayed at 2 for a while then jumped to 3 and 4 quickly after… stayed there for a while and now at 5.
We go though 8 diapers a day (on a good day). Then you need to add the specialty diapers we use regular with cuts for walking and an overnight diaper.
We are on our second diaper pail because the first one was shitty, always putting foul odor out from (it was terrible) and it was a smaller size so would only hold two days worth of diapers.
When we’re on the move we use ziplock bags to keep the stink contained. We need to travel with 1.5 diapers per hour we’re out (6 diapers for 4 hours).
Don’t even get me started on the dozens of choices but there are two main companies huggies and pampers, which are practically the same thing. After that is the clothes that you use to wipe since you cant use toilet paper.
Yet the moment that will be ingrained into your brain is when you have to clean out the entire bath tub mid-bath because of a oops. You’ll let the tub drain only to notice a ring around the tub, quickly followed by the fact that the bath drain isn’t letting the poop go down the drain.
It is in this moment I wished for him to be potty trained and yet once we cross that milestone and he’s no longer in diapers he wont be my little baby but he’ll be my little man.
